“It’s too dangerous!” Robert still objected strongly, “You carry with you the destiny of everyone around us. You are not only our boss, you are also our banner. If you were somehow faced with an unexpected incident…. I can’t even imagine the consequence! In fact, if I was present last night, I would have done everything in power to stop you from charging into the enemy camp alone!”

Du Wei could only sigh as he pointed to the scene below the city.

The sun has already risen for the day and through the bright light, the contour of the enemy tents was even more apparent. If Du Wei used his eagle’s eye, he could even see some prairie warriors sharpening their blades inside their base camp.

“My surprise attack last night was effective and I managed to take out one of their shamans…… Thus hurting their morale. Even so, the native army won’t back off so easily when they brought out such a force. Watch, they will be back on their feet by noon at the latest and make their comeback.” Du Wei had a face full of cloud: “Robert, you know very well how much resources we have at our disposal. Adding up all of our forces, we only have at best 20,000 soldiers…. And most of them are scattered across the province while 3,000 soldiers is currently present inside the city. Under normal circumstances, do you think 3,000 soldiers can repel 20,000 prairie wolves? Can repel these guys who are naturally skilled on horseback? We need reinforcements! That’s why I need to go out…. This is the only way we can overcome the enemy.”

After a pause, Du Wei smiles: “Enough, you don’t have to worry since I killed their shaman last night. While I go out, I’ll keep myself high up in the air so the natives can’t stop me.”

Robert continues to insist: “My Lord, what I fear isn’t the fact that you are going out! I’m worried that you will personally go out to battle! You are our leader! You shouldn’t be in the front line fighting; instead, you should be in the back commanding us! I implore you to stay in the city and stay in the governor’s mansion!”

Du Wei didn’t continue to debate the problem with Robert, he simply gave the order: “By early evening at the latest, you must light a flame in the city. I want it to be so big that anyone ten miles out can see the smoke and flames! Do you understand? If you ignite the flames, I guarantee you will receive powerful reinforcements. All you have to do before then is to ensure the Tulip Flag remains bristling atop of this wall!”

With that, Du Wei’s body was already slowly floating into the air.

Robert could only sigh. Making a proper knight salute, he watched Du Wei’s body disappear into the sky.

Du Wei’s speculation was very accurate. As he flew over the enemy camp, many of the natives were quick to notice him and since he made a surprise attack last night, many archers were standing by just for this scenario. Under the fierce volley of powerful archers from down below, Du Wei had no choice but to raise his altitude and make a detour around the native camp to avoid the arrows constantly flying at him.

Since he depleted both his magic and the energy reserve in his rainbow colored ring, he simply doesn’t have the strength to launch another large scale thunder strike like last night. At best, his magic is only at 50-60%. Facing the opposite direction of the city, he soared away at rapid speed.

“Where is that Duke Tulip going?”

Standing under his own tent, Gold Wolf Head General’s face was gloomy as he watched Du Wei disappear into the horizon.

“General, maybe he fled.” A Prairie native sneers: “There’s not many people left in the city. It’s only a matter of time before we break through their wall.”

“Idiot.” Gold Wolf Head General raised a corner of his mouth, his eyes filled with murderous gleam: “He must be going for reinforcement! Humph…. Send four scouting team around a hundred strong to watch our backs. Also, inform the warriors to get ready. We must break through the city by nightfall! It’s already a fact that a shaman is dead while in our care….. I believe I don’t need to explain the punishment awaiting us once we go back empty handed, right? Only by ignoring all consequences to achieve our goal can we beg for mercy!”

With the calling of the battle horns, the prairie warriors began to line up into battle formation upon hearing the familiar sound. As for Knight Robert, he could only stand there atop of the city wall under the sun’s ray as the chilling glow of the enemy blade reach his eyes!

“Endure till the evening!” He suddenly drew his sword and slashed down at the battlement in front of him. Then in a loud but clear voice, he cried out: “Defend to the end!”

Like him, all the close guards and lieutenant drew their sword into the air and shouted in unison: “Long live Tulip! Man lives, City lives!!!”

Following the same route he had come from last night, Du Wei flew about seven to eight miles out in search of his own team.

Finally, in a low, loose wood cluster, someone noticed Du Wei in the air and came running out to wave at him. Likewise, Du Wei also noticed the person and lowered his altitude. When he got a closer look, it was the captain of the magic apprentices Ziggy.

The 800 men Du Wei had brought with him were all hidden in this wood cluster. As per his instruction, they had retreated to this spot in order to avoid being detected by the native scouts.

Landing on the ground, Ziggy was greatly relieved to see Du Wei was still intact: “Dean! It’s great that you are safe! But didn’t you tell us to wait here for the signal flare from Anglia City? Why did you come here?”

Du Wei taps Ziggy’s shoulder: “No time to explain!”

With that, Du Wei walks into the wood.

In the wood, all of the Tulip cavalry troops were dismounted and sitting on the floor, but there were some atop of some trees paying close attention to the far off distance. This forest cluster may not be very dense, but it’s more than adequate to hide a thousand men.

When Du Wei saw Guptad, this mini 250, the first thing this guy did was jump up and come running over to give him a hug: “My lord, my lord!! It’s a blessing to see you here! Damn it! I really want to kill these guys! How dare they let you charge into enemy camp alone! It’s too risky!!” He shouts aloud like he was crying.

The lieutenant that had let him run off is Guptad’s men so when this mini 250 went off in search of reinforcement, this lieutenant was in charge of the team. But from his appearance and the traces of blood on the lieutenant’s lip, it’s quite clear Guptad gave his subordinate quite the beating.

“Enough Guptad! It was I who wanted to go in; they got nothing to do with it.” Du Wei smiles: “Your men are all good fighters, they deserve nothing but merits. Also…. My harvest wasn’t bad; I killed one of their shamans.”

With that, Du Wei immediately asked: “What about you? When did you get here any did you bring all of our men?”

“There’s none, my lord.” Guptad’s face was full of shame: “I only found lord Alpha’s 800 men…. As for the other two teams, I wasn’t able to locate them….. You required me to be here by this time, so I couldn’t go any further.”

Du Wei shakes his head: “No, the blame lies with me for not taking into account of the actual situation. It’s already a great thing that you were able to bring back a team. Where’s Alpha?”

Du Wei looks around for Alpha’s presence, but tries as he might, he couldn’t see the loyal retainer anywhere.

“He … … When he heard you went into the enemy camp alone, he went into a raging fit and ran off to the front lines in search of your whereabouts.”

Du Wei had his heart skip a beat. Uncle Alpha… … He really does care. But considering the knight’s strength, he shouldn’t be in any danger.

With time pressing down against them, Du Wei was just about to speak when Guptad whispered into his ear: “My lord, though I didn’t bring back everyone, I managed to bring back some…. Guests.”

“Guests?”

Guptad made an eye gesture. Immediately, Du Wei looked over to a deeper part in the woods and saw a group of soldiers wearing a different set of armor. These soldiers were also cavalry knights, but unlike the Tulip insignia on all his troops, these guests had the Thorn Flower emblem on their chest and their armor were those usually worn by the local garrison forces in the empire.

The truth is Du Wei’s troops were only his private army while these guests are the genuine army of the empire.

“What’s going on?” Du Wei asked with a tinge of surprise in his voice because these guys weren’t small in number. From his initial assessment, there should be about five hundred to six hundred men.

My guess, he pick Du Wei’s side, at least for now. He acknowledged how powerful is the you Duke, slapping the northern army’s face so hard that they have to retreat 10 km (was it? I forgot how far), so now the sly bastard must be thinking somehow Du Wei has a chance to drive out the invaders and in the process conquer the northern army. Beside, the former capital is in danger, perhaps that fox also hiding something in the city, so kinda explain things.